Thumbs up: If you ever doubt that Houston can be walkable, consider the 20,000 Dutch fans who trekked from Rice University to NRG for their team’s match against Sweden. Yes, it was hot. Yes, it rained. But they showed that walking that distance is  possible — and they certainly had a better time than Texas Monthly’s Michael Hardy, who documented his miserable 2.5-hour odyssey from the FIFA Fan Festival to NRG Stadium following the so-called Green Corridor that the World Cup host committee promotes. If only we still had BCycle bike rentals. 

Thumbs up: Houston was happy to host Swedish soccer fans for the World Cup, and it looks like they’re leaving behind a gift — Ikea is opening a second Houston-area store. 

Thumbs up: What did the Uzbekistan fans leave behind? Inspiration. Their team may have lost to Portugal 5-0, but they won us over with a fan walk that included fully armored horsemen. We’re waiting to see if Texans fans can pull off a Houston equivalent for next season at NRG. 

Thumbs up: For those checking out Fan Fest, maybe stick around because Houston was rated the top city in Texas for conventions and No. 5 nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report. All things considered, we’re convinced it’s because Xochi is right next to the George R. Brown — and apparently senior travel editor Elizabeth Von Tersch agrees. She explains our impressive ranking by pointing to Houston’s “renowned food scene.”

Thumbs up: While the world remains focused on soccer — and justifiably so — Houston scored a hat trick in hockey news this week. First we heard that the NHL is considering our city for an expansion franchise. Then the Houston Bulls, a junior-league franchise, rolled out its schedule for games that will be played at a facility in Richmond. And finally, Michael Shapiro at Chron.com reported that Michel Petit, a former NHL player, said he plans to build a minor-league hockey stadium south of the Woodlands. 

Thumbs down: If you’re hoping to escape the summer heat, the city of Houston only has you partially covered. A mere 25 of our 37 public pools are open and fully staffed with lifeguards, Axios reports. That’s not as good as last year, when lowering the minimum age for lifeguards from 16 to 15 helped bring the number of open pools up to 31. But at least this year’s count is better than 2024, when a pitiful nine pools were open.

Thumbs up: Our long-necked national nightmare is over. After spending two weeks on the lam, Gracie the missing giraffe was found safe and healthy just four miles from her Hill Country home. Why is there a giraffe in the Hill Country? How does one even lose a giraffe? The world is full of mysteries. 

Thumbs up: In Galveston, they’re not trying to save giraffes. They’re trying to save fish and water birds. The Galveston Bay Foundation acquired 1,483 acres in East Galveston Bay — a stretch of salt marshes called Goat Island — to protect wetlands, wildlife and fisheries, and to restore some lost habitats.

Thumbs down: Texas politicians love making sure that schoolkids learn about financial responsibility, but maybe next they need to make sure state administrators take a lesson, too. The Texas Education Agency will pay $8.5 million to correct roughly 4,200 errors in its controversial Bible-infused Bluebonnet curriculum — mistakes such as typos, switched pages, incorrect answer keys and copyright violations. And no, that’s not par for the course. The Texas Tribune reports that four other curriculum publishers also submitted correction requests around the same time — for a total of 16 errors.

Thumbs down: Maybe Mike Miles could use a financial responsibility class. Houston ISD is signing up for that screwy Bluebonnet curriculum in exchange for $3.3 million in state funding. But as the Chronicle’s Nusaiba Mizan reported this week, that cash might not even cover the district’s costs to print the curriculum.